Caffeine Cures Alzheimer’s! And Other Misleading Headlines.

Not really, but I’d imagine that headline caught your eye and grabbed your attention, which is what it was supposed to do. The study on which that claim is based was widely and often quite misleadingly trumpeted across the Internet yesterday (July 6, 2009). Although some responsible sites included in the headline that the tests were done in mice, many concealed this important fact until you were well into the article and had already been exposed to whatever advertising was on the page. I’d already seen several misleading headlines before I realized the studies were in mice and I’m sure that many people didn’t ever get the full story.

The entire webisode was set in motion by the University of South Florida Health’s press release, a slick piece of PR entitled “Caffeine reverses memory impairment in Alzheimer’s mice,” based on research done at that institution. At least they got it right. But many, if not most, headlines of the articles based on that press release simply ignored the facts of mice. They ranged from “Study: Coffee might help against Alzheimer’s,” to “Caffeine may help prevent Alzheimer’s,” all the way to “The lifestyle to beat Alzheimer’s,” which gets the award for most misleading headline of the lot.

So what did the Florida researchers really find? First, their studies were entirely in mice, not humans. They hope to start trials in humans but this is still a long way off. Second, they used special mice that are genetically bred to develop an illness that resembles Alzheimer’s. Scientists often use such animal models of human illness in order to do studies that either couldn’t or shouldn’t be done in humans until there’s sufficient evidence supporting the hypothesis that such studies are warranted. It’s important to understand that these are special mice and not normal ones. I’ll explain why in a minute.

First, let’s talk about the mice studies and their findings, because the research is quite interesting (it’s just not definitive and it’s definitely not in humans). As mentioned, the researchers used 55 special mice, genetically designed to develop mouse Alzheimer’s. After tests confirmed that the mice were showing signs of memory impairment, which occurred at age 18-19 months (equivalent to age 70 in human years), half the mice were given caffeine in their drinking water and half got plain water. According to the USF press release, the mice were given the equivalent of five 8-ounce cups of coffee a day, which equates to 500 milligrams of caffeine or the amount contained in two cups of espresso, 14 cups of tea, or 20 soft drinks (again, these calculations were done by USF, and I’d imagine that caffeine levels vary quite a bit in different coffee drinks, tea, sodas, and energy drinks – not to mention the lack of labeling of the actual amount of caffeine added to canned and bottled products).

Turns out that after two months the caffeinated mice performed much better on memory tests and tests of thinking skills. Their memories were actually identical to those of normal aged mice without dementia. Moreover, the mice who got only plain water still showed signs of memory impairment (remember, all the mice had “Alzheimer’s” at the start). This means that the caffeinated mice had reversal of their disease! When the researchers looked at the brains of the mice they found a nearly 50 percent reduction in levels of beta amyloid, which is a protein that has been well associated with Alzheimer’s, even in humans. It appears that, in mice, the caffeine reduces enzymes needed to produce beta amyloid.

I mentioned earlier that it’s important to bear in mind that these are not ordinary mice; rather, they are genetically designed to develop an illness that resembles Alzheimer’s. That’s important because it’s a further limitation on the applicability of the research to humans. In other words, we only know the effects of caffeine on these unique mice, bred to develop this animal model. What if caffeine only helps mice with this unique form of the disease? What if it has no effect in humans?

The point of this discussion is that, while these data are quite intriguing, it would be premature to call for a national increase in caffeine consumption at this time. We don’t yet know if caffeine will have any effect in humans, what the right “dose” would be to induce that effect, and whether there would be any unexpected side effects. We don’t know if this would only help once Alzheimer’s is established or if it might work actually to help prevent the onset of the disease (and from what age one would have to consume the caffeine). A lot of research remains to be done before many of the headlines we saw today would be justified. At my age of 59, I, like millions of other Americans, hope the research is done soon, done correctly, is definitive, and that it does have a positive outcome on ameliorating and/or preventing Alzheimer’s. Until then, however, decisions to increase caffeine consumption will be made on preliminary information obtained from mice bred to have a form of the disease we humans call Alzheimer’s.

By the way, if you’re over 65 and you haven’t been consuming much caffeine, you might want to check with your doctor before making any dramatic increases. For most people caffeine is fairly innocuous, but for some it can cause insomnia, increased heart rate, and even increased blood pressure. You’d be well advised fully to understand your state of heart health before suddenly embarking on a new caffeine jag.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ed Zimney, MD

Ed is a physician with more than 30 years of experience. He’s held positions in drug advertising review, drug safety surveillance, medical information and marketing with several bio/pharmaceutical companies.